Passenger air transportation is generally viewed as a trip commencing at one airport and ending at another airport. Passengers generally check-in at the departure airport ticket counter or gate and check-in their baggage as well at the departure airport. A disadvantage of this system is that the passenger with all of the passenger's baggage is concentrated with a plurality of other passengers and their baggage into a finite quantity of check-in areas, and the time required to check-in travelers with their baggage increases with increasing passenger numbers. Passengers are often uninformed about changes to their flights, and airlines are unaware of passenger progress towards their flight. Security problems also exist, in part because it is difficult to ensure that bags are matched with the passenger on the aircraft, and passengers may also carry to the aircraft a greater volume of baggage in order to avoid having to check-in baggage with the airlines. Using carry-on baggage has its own drawbacks in that carry-on baggage has its own screening needs, consumes space within the aircraft in the overhead compartments and under the seating areas, and delays passenger loading.
The airlines are also forced to deal with all aircraft checked baggage at the point of entry into the system, i.e., either at the curb-side check-in point or at the check-in terminal counters. This places the full burden of identifying, logging in and security checking each piece of baggage at the airport terminal. At the arrivals area of the terminal, passengers crowd into limited area baggage pickup zones to retrieve their baggage.
A need therefore exists for a system which provides improved service to the passenger, reduces the congestion from passenger and baggage processing at departure terminals, provides better information to passengers and airlines, and facilitates security screening. A need also exists to improve the baggage pickup and passenger arrival coordination portions of a trip to reduce the congestion and security concerns at arrival terminals. The opportunity also exists to provide added value to the passenger and other system participants by facilitating transactions and information flow.